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Mexico 
A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation had been making an impressive recovery until the global financial crisis hit in late 2008. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Income inequality remains a problem, and huge gaps remain not only between rich and poor but also between the north and the south, and between urban and rural areas. Mexicans living abroad sent home less money per year in 2008 for the first time on record as the U.S. slowdown hit migrants' earnings. According to Mexico's central bank, remittances fell 3.6 percent in 2008. This money is the country's second largest source of foreign income after oil revenues.
Food For The Poor in Mexico
General Information - Mexico
- Area - 761,600 square miles (Mexico is slightly less than three times the state of Texas)
- Population - 111,211,789 (July 2009 est.)
- Capital - Mexico City
- Independence Day, Sept. 16
- Languages - Spanish is the official language of Mexico, and is spoken by 95 percent of the population
- Religion - Mexico’s population is primarily Roman Catholic
- Currency - 1 Mexican peso = 0.075289 U.S. dollars
- Unemployment - 4% (October 2008) [Note Underemployment is estimated as high as 25%. Employment figures capture these categories: agriculture, 15.1%; industry, 25.7%; and services, 59% (2005)]
- Literacy rate - Total population: 91% | Male: 92.4% | Female: 89.6% (Defined: Age 15 and over can read and write)
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Mexico Demographics |
By Age: (2009 est.)
0-14 years: 29.1% (male 16,544,223/female 15,861,141)
15-64 years: 64.6% (male 34,734,571/female 37,129,793)
65 years and over: 6.2% (male 3,130,518/female 3,811,543)
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Infant Mortality: (2009 est.)
Total: 18.42 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 20.3 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 16.44 deaths/1,000 live births |
Median Age: (2009 est.)
Total: 26.3 years
Male: 25.3 years
Female: 27.3 years |
Life Expectancy: (2009 est.)
Total population: 76.06 years
Male: 73.25 years
Female: 79 years
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Mexico History
The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. The elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate - Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) - defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
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